​The guest speaker was Pauline Larsen, who is the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area (DYBIA). https://downtownyonge.com/  Their area includes the portion of Bay Cloverhill from Bay Street to Yonge Street, from Grosvenor Street to College Street.  There will be many events this summer, including Play the Parks featuring emerging Toronto based artists, College Park: After Hours movie nights, soccer theme Downtown Yonge Inplay, flea market, music and architectural walking tours.  Winter food tours were popular and summer food tours start soon, often selling out in a few days.  More information at www.downtownyonge.com/foodtours/.  DYBIA partnered outreach operates Monday to Friday.   The Community Outreach Response and Engagement pilot was successful in finding homes for 15 individuals.  More information at www.downtownyonge.com/ on all events and programs, or contact Pauline directly at [email protected].
 
University Rosedale Councillor Dianne Saxe updated everyone on the Queen’s Park North revitalization project.  The Infrastructure and Environment Committee has recommended approval of the Design Concept phase that will go to City Council later this month.  The mass events that were held up to 2012 have resulted in soil compaction and damage to trees. Part of the revitalization is to restore the health of the 358 trees in the park, with special attention to the older trees.   Councillor Saxe has initiated a motion to reinforce the prohibition of mass events.  In addition, the Great White Oak bench will remain as requested by the BCCA.  Another item from the BCCA is the fountain that will be restored or retained if possible. She fought for the BCCA to have a seat on the advisory panel.  One of her ideas is to put QR codes with stories about the individual tree or the park in general on each of the trees currently in the park.  Everyone was asked to think about stories and record a brief statement. Mark A. raised a concern that QR codes can be compromised and suggested near field communication as an alternative.  Kathryn H. queried about the location of the restaurant and the Councillor explained that the building would be located on existing hard surface and the intent was to draw people into the centre of the park, away from busy traffic on the road.

for 506 College streetcar and 19 Bay bus restored.  Phase 2 sewer replacement College from Yonge to Bay and TTC track replacement on Carlton Street from Church Street to Yonge Street will start the end of July and finish in September.  Phase 3 TTC track replacement on College Street from Yonge Street to Bay Street scheduled for September to December.
 
Liberal Dr. Danielle Martin was elected in the Monday April 13th federal byelection, with 64.3% of votes.  There were 10 candidates, with Serena Purdy of the NDP finishing second with 18.9% of votes.31,028 votes were cast resulting in a low 33% voter turnout.  Approximately 10% of votes were cast in advance polls.
 
The plaque for Primrose in Clover Hill Park is scheduled to be installed in July.

​In addition to Councillor Saxe’s comments, one of the major accomplishments in the past month or so was the involvement of the Forestry and Heritage Departments in the project.  There will be a new public art plan and document is underway.
 
Minor design concept changes included protected understory planting in ‘Learning Forest’ elevated boardwalk replacing tree walk, removal of kiosk and workshop.  There will be a large memorial gardens at south end of park, water features and temporary council fire.  Separate washroom and café buildings will be located in the middle of park.

​The pollinator gardens have been installed on St. Joseph, with new traffic measures to slow down cars and discourage wrong way traffic.  The BikeShare station has been relocated back onto the new raised platform.
 
New community garden signs were installed to discourage dog and litter waste.
 
The St. Nicholas street sign at Wellesley that was removed during construction of 8 Wellesley will be reinstalled.
 
New sidewalk decals requested by Beth H. have been obtained and will be installed soon.  Volunteers are needed to help with the installation.
 
There are 15 new restaurants opened in the last 6 or so months:
 
There are 8 BikeShare stations in the Bay Cloverhill neighbourhood, with room for 159 bikes.  Cyclists have a choice of classic bikes or ebikes available at a premium cost.  Services available on a pay as you go basis, day pass or annual membership. https://bikesharetoronto.com/system-map/ .
 
We have an upcoming municipal election. Candidates for mayor, councillor or school trustee can register until August 19th .  Voting date is Monday October 26th from 10 am to 8 pm, with advance voting Tuesday October 6th to Sunday October 11th from 10 am to 7 pm.  Vote by mail by registering in advance Tuesday September 1st to Thursday September 24th .  The TDSB School Trustee boundaries changed April 2026, Bay Cloverhill is now in Ward 7 instead of 10.  Current list of registered candidates available at https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/elections/candidate-list/.
 
There are 2 major construction projects underway.  The first is resurfacing and hydro work on Breadalbane Street that should be complete in Q4 of this year.  The work may include Neighbourhood Project with pedestrian crossing to Opera Place Park, benches and planters.  The second is resurfacing and water main replacement on Grosvenor Street and Queen’s Park Crescent.
 
Despite having to be rescheduled due to rainy and cold weather, a small group of dedicated volunteers participated in Clean Toronto Together this year.
 
The website has been refreshed, there are a new community gardens map, Friends of Queen’s Park page and updated photos and information at www.baycloverhill.com. 

​The site plan for 2G 26 Grenville/27 Grosvenor is being reviewed by the City.  Demolition is planned for later in 2026, followed by excavation and construction of both towers with 769 rental apartments, including 233 affordable rental apartments.  The site will include a portion of the Clock Tower Trail. www.grenvillegrosvenor.com 
 
1075 Bay is proposed to be replaced with a 62 storey mixed use building with non-residential/affordable housing.  The developer has proposed park instead of Privately Owned Public Space. Updated OPA/ZBA application under review by City for 3 additional floors with non-residential/affordable units replacing office space.  There will be a public meeting at the Toronto East York Community Council on July 8th.
 
Adjacent to our area, a large development an application was made in July 2025 for College Park.  The project consists of 3 towers with over 2,300 units of 65, 75 and 96 storeys.  A zoning bylaw and official plan amendment was filed in January 2026.

The meetings attended since the last meeting were reviewed. 

• Police Relations April 1st
• Residents Association April 9th 
• Sidewalk Safety April 16th
• yongeTOmorrow April 21st
• Queen's Park North May 11th 
• Residents Association May 14th 
  
• Safety Committee May 21st
  
• Residents Association May 21st 
  
• Breadalbane Off Leash Dog Park May 27th 
  
• Police Relations June 3rd 
  
• MP Town Hall June 9th 
• Residents Association June 11th 

Details are available in the meeting presentation on the Information page.

​Residents at Irwin and St. Nicholas are split if the litter bin should be removed, due to illegal dumping.  A litter bin on Wellesley that was blocking the handicapped zone was relocated.  1001 Bay has had problems with overflowing litter, it was replaced with a larger bin and a second bin has been installed nearby.
 
Section 37 funds for bricking of St. Luke Lane are not in the Transportation Department’s capital plan, but we will continue to advocate for this project to be scheduled.
 
A complaint about garbage and dumpsters in St. Luke Lane was referred to 311 and the DYBIA Clean Streets team.
 
Water from the splash pad at Clover Hill Park floods the children’s playground.  Kathryn H. and Merick B. met with a Parks Supervisor with possible solutions of cleaning out drains and correcting the downhill/bioswale drainage caused by installation/design issues that have existed since 2020.  Kathryn H. provided additional detail about the water issues with Clover Hill Park.  She and Merick came up with the ideas to install a grate to drain excess water or bury weeping tiles to redirect the water.
 
An encampment at the rear of 11 St. Joseph was cleared with the help of the Gerstein Crisis Centre.
 
Feedback was solicited for the issue of mental incapacity that would allow the authorities to put individuals with mental health issues into mandatory treatment.  Mark A. suggested that skilled interviewing would be beneficial to assess needs.  Cathy C. explained that more authority is needed when threats are involved.
 
The Billy Bishop Island Airport expansion issues are outlined in a FoSTRA document on the BCCA website.  Several prominent citizens have launched https://torealitycheck.ca/ to allow people to tell federal politicians their thoughts.  There is a vague Transport Canada survey open until July 24th tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/consultations/public-consultation-future-billy-bishop-toronto-city-airport.  Airport expansion plans will not be released during the public consultation process.
 
Residents were reminded to call or file online services requests to 311 for any issues. https://www.toronto.ca/home/311-toronto-at-your-service/create-a-service-request/
 
Upcoming community and special events were highlighted.  In addition, people are invited to the Walk of Housing Justice on June 24th. 

On June 9th, residents discussed provincial issues with University Rosedale MP Jessica Bell and ​Toronto Centre MP Kristyn Wong-Tam, along with the University of Toronto Student Union, University of Toronto Graduate Student Union and the Bay Cloverhill Community Association.  The Town Hall was held at the YWCA at 87 Elm Street.

MP Wong-Tam spoke about ebikes, pedestrian and road safety.  The provincial Ministry of Transport has promised regulations for ebikes and revisions are underway.  Ebikes should be using roads.  There are two classes of ebikes.  Class 1 are defined by having an exposed frame, no foot rest and working pedals, 500 watts or less and speed up to 32 km per hour.  Class 2 have speeds of 40 km per hour and continuous pedalling is not required.  The biggest challenge with ebikes is enforcement. 

There are over 85,000 homeless people in Ontario and about 2,000 tent cities currently, representing a 50% increase.  The underfunding of housing is a major cause of homelessness.  Municipalities need to be forced to act to improve access to housing.

The challenges of accessibility for seniors is becoming more important.

MP Bell warned more budget cuts are coming for public schools, as the provincial government is cutting another $900M from the educational budget.  Orde Street School is being relocated to the Heydon Park Secondary School site due to construction.  Next year, the teachers union contract will be negotiated and their number one concern is smaller class sizes.

Ontario is last in almost all the metrics of health care for all provinces.

The NDP are asking for a two year rent freeze and stronger rent safe rules.  There are many issues with the Landlord Tenant Board that need to be fixed.

There is strong opposition to any expansion at Billy Bishop Airport. The federal government launched an online public survey.

The U of T Student Union highlighted that many students live in the Bay Cloverhill neighbourhood, since it is adjacent to the St. George campus.

Over 1,500 graduate students live in the Bay Cloverhill neighbourhood, according to the University of Toronto Graduate Student Union.  One of their biggest challenges is that there has been no increase in research funding since 2001, and research is now much more expensive.  The recent OSAP changes will cause financial difficulty for masters students.  This will result in future shortfalls for needed professionals.

The Bay Cloverhill Community Association outlined the Weston Foundation $50M donation to update Queen's Park North.  Mass events were stopped in this historic park in 2012 with the efforts of then City Councillor Wong-Tam to minimize soil compaction and damage to trees. The Friends of Queen’s Park North have been very active in advocating for preservation of the trees by involving Forestry and Heritage departments.  Design concepts, updates and next steps in the project were outlined.  There are many concerns about the Billy Bishop airport expansion that would affect 94,000 housing units and result in the elimination of 12,000 housing units.  The bike lane removal injunction remains in place while the Charter challenge is under appeal. Residents are invited to the next General Members Meeting when mandatory mental institutionalization will be discussed.

A wide variety of resident concerns and questions were raised.

1. Upcoming transfer of responsibility for the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner from the city to the province.
2. Thoughts about the Finnish president suggested that it would be better for Canada join the European Union than become part of the United States.  MP Bell thinks a 'Buy Ontario' program should be promoted and that infrastructure should be built. 
3. Aging in place results in Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) where personal support workers and paramedics concentrate on treating residents in a building, or neighbouring buildings.  Residents also pool together resources, such as personal support workers.  Non profit retirement homes should be prioritized over for profit homes by the government.
4. Accessibility is an issue as the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is not effective or enforced.  Over 26% of the Ontario population has a disability.
5. Bill 51 should extend to newer condos, where many students rent.
6. Landlord and tenant board issues have resulted in high rental prices.
7. What are the legal levers we have as the opposition?
8. The intersection of Bay and Edward Streets is unsafe for pedestrians and needs a traffic light or barriers to avoid turns.  The BCCA will assist with contacting the local councillor to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.
9. When will Ontario government employees move back into Macdonald Block?  There must be a substantial financial burden of renting substitute offices.  The rehabilitation project is over budget and past the original completion date.  Most work has been completed, but there are interior issues with elevator shafts that have to be resolved.
10. What is affordable for a purchaser is very different for a renter.
11.  Residents of 16 St. Joseph have experienced too many rent increases.  MP Wong-Tam will assist with the most recent rent increase rationalized by the cost of replacing radiators.  The building also experiences issues with homeless individuals.
12.  How to control the issues and protests every weekend in Queen's Park and on Yonge.
13.  Seniors courses at the University of Toronto  are not affordable.
14. Renter experienced multiple evictions when the landlord wants to reoccupy the unit.
15.  Electric skateboards are dangerous due to being fast, not lawful, and not policed.

Thank you to the many residents who attended, and all the participants.  We appreciate MP's Bell and Wong-Tam arranging the community town hall.